Cardinals MLN - Spivey at 2nd for St. Louis?

Ray Mileur

08/14/2006

Could Junior Spivey still play a role in the St. Louis Cardinals pennant race? Prior to Monday's game with Triple-A Memphis, IF Junior Spivey had hit .368 in his last 10 games with four homers, seven RBIs and 10 runs scored.

Chris Narveson (6-4) picked up the win pitching 5.1 innings and giving up
just four hits and no runs.

Notes: Going into Monday's game, the Redbirds have won just three of
their first 12 games in August, and the problem has been pitching. Memphis
pitchers have allowed 149 hits and 48 walks in 108 2/3 innings, with the result
being a 7.29 ERA. The Redbirds have dropped to 10th in the PCL with a 4.47 ERA,
not good for a team that is last in the league in batting.

Could Junior Spivey still play a role in the St. Louis Cardinals pennant
race? Prior to Monday's game, IF Junior Spivey had hit .368 in his last 10 games
with four homers, seven RBIs and 10 runs scored.

Springfield Cardinals (Double-A)

Record -

21-30
(39-29, 1st half)

Standings - Texas League, East Division - 4th Place, 8.5
GB

Results: WON - On Bob Gibson Bobble-Head night, the Springfield Cardinals
defeated Midland by a score of 7-2. The Cardinals out hit the Rockhounds
14-3.

Mike Parisi picked up the win for Springfield improving his record to 8-5 and
Nick Stavinoha hit his tenth home run of the season.

Notes:

Going into Monday night's game, Parisi was 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA in
the month of August. He has pitched six or more innings in five straight starts
and his 87 strikeouts are second most on the team.

Cardinals' closer Mark Worrell has had only one save opportunity in the last
13 games, which he converted on 8/2 at Arkansas. Worrell entered August needing
10 saves to surpass the career-high of 35 he had with Palm Beach in 2005 but
there are now just 20 regular season games remaining in the season.

Results: WON - Picked up a 5-2 road win Monday night against
Lakeland.

Notes: OF Colby Rasmus drove in three runs in a 9-8 win over Jupiter on
Friday, giving him eight RBIs in his last six games and 24 in 38 games since
joining the Cardinals from Quad Cities.

The Cardinals are coming off of a 5-1 week that included three one-run
victories. They're two games back of division-leading Daytona and St. Lucie.
Palm Beach has won 11 of its last 14 games.

Swing of Quad Cities (Low-A)

Record - 30-20 (34-34, 1st half)

Standings - Midwest League, West Division - 1st Place

Results: WON - SWING TAKE BACK FIRST PLACE WITH THREE-HITTER

Three-run first sets the tone as Swing staff retires 17 of last 18
batters.

The Swing of the Quad Cities jumped on top early and received strong pitching
Monday night at Pohlman Field, using a 7-1 win over the Beloit Snappers to
recapture sole possession of first place in the Midwest League's Western
Division. Donnie Smith earned the win with seven strikeouts over five innings,
combining with a pair of relievers for a three-hit shutout in which the Snappers
were held hitless after the third.

Quad Cities (30-20, 64-54) took a
half-game lead over the Snappers with the win, reversing the positions occupied
by the two clubs entering Monday's contest. Beloit (30-21, 65-54) fell behind
early and never recovered, as the Swing rallied for three runs in the top of the
first to take control early.

Notes: IF Jose Martinez was placed on the DL on 8/6, backdated to 8/3,
with a bone bruise in his left foot.

RHP Mark McCormick returned from a month-long DL stint (6/2-7/10) to make one
start on 7/10, but was scratched from his next outing and placed on the DL again
on 7/20 due to shoulder inflammation.

RHP Phillip Andersen was placed on the DL on 4/25 with a partial tear of his
ulnar collateral ligament, and is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John
surgery on 5/17. Neither McCormick or Andersen is currently with the team.

State College Spikes (SS-A)

Record - 28-25

Standings -

New York Penn League, Pinckney Division - 2nd
Place, 1 GB

Results: LOST - The State College Spikes fell for the first time in a
week on Monday evening, losing to the Vermont Lake Monsters by the score of 6-0
to snap their seven-game winning streak. LHP Brad Furnish (2-5) suffered the
loss despite striking out nine over his seven innings of work. The former TCU
star, allowed four runs, all in the third inning, while walking two and the
Spikes bats were unable to dig out of the early hole. Offensively, the Spikes
managed only six hits and left seven runners on base

Notes: Since making his first professional start on Opening Day in State
College,

Brad Furnish has struggled early in games, pitching to a 6.55 first inning
ERA, and a 6.75 second inning ERA, before settling in and not having an earned
run average above 2.35 in any other inning.

Prior to Monday night's game, the Spikes went 6-1, winning their last six
games after dropping the week's opener to Mahoning Valley. The streak propelled
the Spikes over .500 to an overall record of 27-24, good for second place in the
NYPL's Pinckney Division. They moved up two spots in the division race this
week.

No game scheduled for the Spikes on Tuesday.

Johnson City Cardinals (Rookie)

Record - 24-28

Standings -

Appalachian League, West Division - 4th Place, 9.5 GB

Results: WON - Johnson City continued beating up on Greenville Monday
night, by a score of 5-0. Cardinal's pitching held Greenville to just three
hits.

Notes: Tyler Herron, has been named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the
Week, for this past week, his line:

2-0, 0.71 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 12.2 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12
SO

Herron has won his past four decisions after losing his first five. On
Monday against Burlington, the 20-year-old allowed three hits over 6 2/3
scoreless innings while striking out five. Six days later, the streaky
right-hander surrendered three runs -- one earned -- on seven hits while
striking out a season-high seven batters.